It started this morning: NATO sent them a message
Voting in the referendum on joining Russia began this morning in the Russian-controlled regions of Ukraine.
Friday, 23.09.2022.
08:57
It started this morning: NATO sent them a message
Residents of the People's Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, as well as the territories of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in Ukraine, will vote in referendums on joining Russia from today until September 27.Earlier this week, the DNR and LNR councils raised the issue of the urgent holding of the referendum, TASS reports.
Referendum dates were set on Tuesday, with local parliaments unanimously adopting referendum laws, while electoral authorities approved the procedure.
On Tuesday, residents of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions joined the initiative, as local pro-Russian public organizations submitted similar requests to their authorities. In a video address on Wednesday morning, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia would support the decision made during the referendum.
The format of the plebiscite was the subject of the most heated discussions before the vote, according to TASS. Due to time constraints and technical problems, the decision was made to use traditional paper ballots and not conduct digital voting.
Personal voting will take place exclusively on September 27, while on other days voting will be done by communities and door-to-door for security reasons, according to TASS. Residents of the self-proclaimed DPR and LNR will declare whether they "support the joining of their republics to Russia as a federal entity."
Residents of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson will be asked if they are in favor of "separating the region from Ukraine, creating an independent state and subsequently joining Russia as a federal subject."
In DNR and LNR, where Russian is now the only official language, ballots will be printed in Russian. In the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, the question will be asked in both Ukrainian and Russian languages. As the Ukrainian counter-offensive is currently underway, a significant number of residents of Donbass, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson have left their homes and will be able to vote outside those territories, including Russia, TASS reports.
The Kherson Central Election Commission expects about 750.000 people to vote. The Zaporizhzhia region has about 750.000 registered voters. DPR printed about 1.5 million ballots for its residents. All four regions have stated that they are committed to maximum transparency and legitimacy, as they are open to monitoring by international observers.
The President of the Central Election Commission of the LNR (CEC), Jelena Kravchenko, announced on Wednesday that the CEC "receives and considers" applications from foreign observers, although she did not specify their countries. The CEC of the DNR announced that it expects foreign observers and promised to provide more information after their accreditation.
The president of the election commission of the Kherson region, Marina Zakharova, said that the invitations were sent to "a large number of countries." Russia's CEC also promised to send its observers to monitor the referendums. The State Duma (the lower house of the Russian Parliament) announced that members of all parliamentary factions would be invited to participate in monitoring the vote.
As stated, "due to Ukrainian shelling and subversive actions", pro-Russian authorities in all areas are preparing to step up security measures during the voting day.
NATO: The fake referendums in Ukraine present a gross violation of the UN Charter
NATO has strongly condemned Russia's plans to hold referendums in the occupied regions of Ukraine and called on all countries to reject what it says are "blatant Russian attempts at territorial conquest"."Fake referendums in the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in Ukraine have no legitimacy and will be a blatant violation of the UN Charter," the statement of the North Atlantic Military Alliance states.
NATO allies ruled out recognizing “illegal and illegitimate annexation” of Ukrainian territory and called on other countries to “reject Russia’s blatant attempts at territorial conquest."
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